Uma Bharti aspires to contest 2029 LS polls
Uma Bharti
on Friday expressed her desire to return to electoral politics. Bharti said she stepped-out of contesting the General Elections in 2019 and 2024.
Before the 2024 Lok Sabha election, she claimed to have met PM Narendra Modi, and opted out of contesting the Parliamentary election as her focus was on the Ganga rejuvenation campaign.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Bharti indicated that she might contest the 2029 General Election. "I will remain in the
BJP
till the last hour," Bharti said.
"I had said, I will not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2024 Parliamentary polls. But how old am I? People have a misconception, and they are not to blame for it. Since I worked with former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and (forrmer deputy PM) LK Advani, people think I have crossed 75 years."
She further said, "There was a difference of 40 years between their ages (Vajpayee and Advani) and mine. I have not even crossed 65. And Modi ji (PM Narendra Modi) was 65 when he contested the first Lok Sabha election. Now I must be in politics for the next 15 to 20 years. And yes, maybe I will contest elections. It is certainly possible that I will contest the elections in the future."
Bharti turned 63 years old in May. She was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Khajuraho constituency in 1989 and represented the seat for three more terms in 1991, 1996 and 1998.
In 1999, she changed her constituency and contested from Bhopal parliamentary seat. In 2003, as the BJP's chief ministerial face, Uma Bharti got a landslide victory for her party defeating the 10-year Digvijaya Singh govt.
She was fielded from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 General Election and defeated Chandrapal Yadav of the Samajwadi party.
Bharti served as Union minister for river development and Ganga rejuvenation in the first Narendra Modi govt. She had also held various important portfolios as Union minister in the erstwhile Vajpayee govts.
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